OK, why is it better to gain commercial qualifications as opposed to traditional academic qualifications obtained from tech' colleges and universities? With a growing demand for specific technological expertise, industry has of necessity moved to specialist courses only available through the vendors themselves - that is companies like Microsoft, CompTIA, CISCO and Adobe. This frequently provides reductions in both cost and time. University courses, for example, often get bogged down in too much loosely associated study - with much too broad a syllabus. Students are then held back from learning the core essentials in sufficient depth.

Just as the old advertisement said: 'It does what it says on the label'. The company just needs to know where they have gaps, and then match up the appropriate exam numbers as a requirement. Then they know that anyone who applies can do the necessary work.

A lot of training providers still use one of the most out-dated training concepts - classroom attendance. Usually touted as a major benefit, if you talk to a student who has had to attend a few, you'll hear a common theme of many or all of these:

- Masses of driving back and forth from the workshop centre - normally quite a distance away.

- Workshop access; normally Monday to Friday and sometimes 2-3 days at a time. It's not easy to get the time off work.

- Annual leave lost - a lot of working people get just four weeks holiday each year. If half or more of that is used up by educational events, vacation time is going to be quite short for students and their families.

- Training workshops can fill up very quickly and can sometimes be too big - so they're not personal enough.

- Tension can run high in classes because most students want to move at a pace comfortable for them.

- You can't overlook the increased expense of driving or taking public transport or accommodation over-night either. Often, this will cost many hundreds of pounds more - sometimes thousands. Take some time to add it all up - you may be surprised.

- We all enjoy our privacy. We shouldn't risk giving up any lift up the ladder that could awarded to us while we're training.

- It's quite usual for attendees not to pose the question that's bugging them - purely because they're amongst other classmates.

- Living away for part of your working week - many trainees find themselves working or living away for certain parts of their training. Classes end up being hard to get to, unfortunately the money has already changed hands in your initial payment.

Why not simply watch and learn with industry specialists one-on-one from pre-made modules, studying them when it's convenient for you, not someone else. Just imagine... Utilising a notebook PC you're able to work wherever you happen to be at that time. And live 24x7 support is only a web-click away when challenges strike you. It doesn't matter how frequently you have to re-cover a topic, on-screen instructors are never going to run out of patience! Plus, with this method, there's no need to take notes. It's all there for you. Even though this doesn't take away all study problems, it unquestionably reduces stress and eases things. You also have reduced hassle, costs and travel.

In relation to Network+ , the old 'N10-003' has now been updated by the N10-004, the 2009 version. As well as the solid component of managing and running networks & their infrastructure, this latest exam focuses heavily on design, security and wireless-skills.

For the new trainee to IT, CompTIA offers the basic foundation training programs in numerous areas. In general, trainees who are planning on employment opportunities in Networking, Security, Servers, Systems, Communications & Support will begin with 'CompTIA', but in fact trainees within any sector could find a CompTIA certification a worthwhile component of their CV. There is certainly now also a push within CompTIA to deliver their beginner level STRATA products to those people who do not work in IT, but would gain from a knowledge of basic IT & how it impacts their job.

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